“There's plenty of movies that are intended for people that aren't that interested in political philosophy, and there's plenty that are."

The Irrational Games founder also acknowledged that shooters provide a convenient framework for designers, and that their easy-to-grasp mechanics aid their popularity.

"One of the reasons there's been a lot of violence in video games is because it's relatively easy to simulate and, like action movies, there's an easily perceivable market for it,” he said.

"A shooter answers a lot of questions for you: the main mechanic is you have this gun, you have weapons, you have enemies, you have conflict coming at you.

"I think now, we have a little more confidence that, especially when you don't have to appeal to eight or ten million people, when you can just digitally distribute, you can really try to have a one-to-one interaction with a smaller, more dedicated fanbase and give them the thing they want,” he added.

“You couldn't do that twenty years ago when I started."

The criticism Bioshock Infinite received for its violence was proof that the industry is changing, said Levine.

"I think that it's not particularly more violent than Bioshock 1," he said.

"I think the conversation in the games space has changed a little bit. I think people used Infinite as a launching point to talk about the changing nature of games."